Drowning
This is such a common dream and has been answered hundreds of times, we first ask you to look through the many answers given in Drowning – Many Replies Hopefully you will find an answer to your own drowning dream
Because of the water, drowning depicts fear of being overwhelmed by difficult emotions or anxieties, so it often points to struggles – conflicts – or fighting for survival you may have in your life. But this might apply not to dangerous emotions or urges, but to natural urges such as eating, loving or sex, that some people have enormous conflicts with. Drowning in a dream is also about struggling to survive as a person, so it applies to your identity as it is dealing with relationship with other people, but also with your own internal world of instincts, body activities and needs.
But the feelings of being overwhelmed can be caused by fear or anxiety. But if we can, we can meet and dissolve these. For whenever we dream its images are not like real life, because a dream is nothing like outer life where things could hurt you, but is an image like on a cinema screen that even if a gun is pointed at you and fired it can do no damage – except if you run in fear. So all the things that scare you are simply your own fears projected onto the screen of your sleeping mind.
So in dreams you cannot drown, but fear takes away your confidence, so then you go through the agonised emotions of drowning.
This is about being or feeling overwhelmed by something. One can ‘drown’ in sorrow for instance. So you need to look at your waking life to see what you are feeling threatened or burdened by and see if there are ways you can deal with it. If someone else actually drowns in the dream it may mean some of your feelings, your creativity and responsiveness are no longer ‘alive’. But they can be brought back to life if you care for that side of yourself. Sometimes it is simply anxiety we drown in, and much of anxiety is about situations we imagine. Separating what is imagined from what is real can help this. See Characters and People in Dreams
But such fear can be caused because if un-dealt with traumas from childhood are not faced, or by being exposed to awful film images that you believe are real. Read and Martial Art of the Mind
If you feel you are struggling to you ‘keep your head above water’ in a dream, do not give in for it is only emotions you are facing, not reality.
Water and drowning often indicates you are facing the unknown changes and so are afraid. But in dreams we can never die or even be hurt, for we wake without real hurt except for our feelings.
Going under water in a dream depicts you are going deeper into your awareness, so you are beginning to explore your unconscious. That is a major step in your development and is an evolutionary advance. It can lead to many major new abilities such as a wider awareness of life around you. A person describes one of the possible changes, “Unexpectedly everything changed and my fundamental self was something that existed throughout all time. It didn’t have a beginning or end. There was no goal to achieve. I am.”
Dreamt about someone else: May occasionally show Your apprehension about their health or well being, having the suggestion of death or breakdown.
Example: ‘I fell into a pond. My brother was frightened to be by himself so he jumped in. We were both drowning in the water and we shouted out for Mum. My brother drowned.’ Poppy S.
Poppy dreamt this while feeling insecure and anxious due to her father being seriously ill.
Example: I had been dreaming about sitting on a sofa with my friends – well watching horror movies, when suddenly everything comes to live. I was afraid of the ghost that had been drowning with her husband in the movie, and it comes to haunt me. I asked the ghost’s sister to help and she passes me a necklace with can protect me. And suddenly the ghost appears and tells my friend she was pretty. What does this means?
It means that you need to understand how your mind works. It means that you have nothing to fear about ghosts. As the ghost that appeared showed you, there was no harm in it. Dream images are like images on cinema screens – harmless unless you are haunted by your own fears. But the dream also shows you that whatever you believe in becomes a fact and alive in our dreams. It mean that the necklace gave you confidence, and in fact the necklace is only a crutch for your confidence. But we need such things until we can deal with our own emotions. See Facing Fear
Idioms: drown your sorrow; if you’re born to hang, you won’t drown.
Useful questions:
What powerful emotions or changes am I dealing with?
Am I feeling overwhelmed by something?
Can I define the strengths and ways I use to deal with threatening feelings?
Do I feel as if I am ‘drowning’ in a situation or relationship?
What is it I am feeling overwhelmed by recently?
Is this someone else drowning – if so what facet of me do they represent?
What resource or person could help me survive in this situation?
Another person or animal drowning still suggests it is an aspect of your own personality you need to care for.
Whoever or whatever it is, imagine yourself back in the dream and save them. If necessary imagine rescue services coming to your aid. In doing this you are using imagery to shift your feelings and anxieties.
All water in some way signifies your own inner world of feelings, but the sea often suggests meeting urges and wisdom lying beyond the boundary of your conscious mind. What is it you feel in the sea or river? Try putting it into words.
See Associations Working With; Techniques for Exploring your Dreams; Avoid Being Victims; Secrets of Power Dreaming
Comments
I had a dream that my sister and I was driving and she drove the car into a big body of water and we were both drowning. I guess she drowned because I ended up showing up to like a community center or something asking for help and crying but I had a little boy with me. I felt myself drowning in that car. I heard myself saying I don’t want to die as water filed my nose. I felt myself relax in the car and accept the fact that I would die there but I didn’t evidentially cause the next things was me with the boy.
I was finding myself having the same dream for weeks in witch I was submerged in water but I was not drowning and I could hear a girl yelling my name I don’t know who this girl was I could not tell through the water but I heard her running off what sounded to be a wooden dock but just as I hear the splash of her jumping in I wake up
I had a dream where me and my cousin was sitting in a car talking..then all of a sudden we was drowning in the car. My cousin swam out and she was ok. I could hear her screaming for me then I woke up in the car and actually felt the dream..like I felt the water pressure holding me down as I tried to escape. I ended up saying please forgive me Lord but I have no more fight in me..and I let myself drown. That scared me so much I woke up startled and shooken and crying.
So I had a dream where I was with about 4 other people and we were exploring this island. After a while we came to some water and I got close to it then bent down to pick something up, once I was standing back up I got dizzy and fell into the water that looked shallow but was not. I remember seeing one of the people I was with watching me sink but the water was so clear and I could still breathe in the water. I don’t know what to make of this dream so if someone could help me that would be magnificent.
Last night I dreamed about my cousin and I in a swimming pool foating. And then in an instant on that dream she told me goodbye(in a mean way) and started holding me under the water. On that dream she tried to forcefully drown me on the swimming pool. I was shouting and trying to tell her to stop but she kept pushing my body under water. After my last breath of air and the feeling of exhaustion, I passed out and woke up crying. It felt so real. 🙁
I just woke up from a nightmare(?) I was celebrating something big-well at least I think it was big and that it was for me but I wasn’t sure why- I was looking for my boyfriend (who recently had an accident) I felt close by but confused that I couldn’t see him in the crowd. I heard a car screech out front so I went to investigate to see my boyfriend was being pulled out of the road like it was water he had drowned. I was really upset and felt like I failed him because it was my duty to protect him. So I took a job to save people through assassination but the bullets my company provides me werent really bullets but tiny balls filled with a disease that turned those shot with it into a zombie that could infect other people to turn into zombies. The more I shot 1 zombie the more it got worse. I had a mission to reach the cliftop watchout as I kept calling it. And i was completely against it but my little sister wasnted to go at all costs. The more people we met the more lonely it felt then a building size zombie dog jumped at me and just as its jaws engulfed me I woke up but I could hear my voice happily say “this is what I deserve” does it hold the same meaning?
I had a dream ( a few at once actually) and my parents and I went to swim in the ocean and I struggled to keep my head over the water and I tried to scream but I couldn’t, and my parents just looked confused, I woke up scard! Please tell me what this means?
This is the second time in having this dream.. I dreamt that I was at the lake with my uncle and friends and I fall into the water and can’t get back up. I keep grabbing people and begging someone to help some how but no one helped or acknowledged me.
I keep dreaming of this woman I never even met they keep strolling with her two children and her third child the oldest one always dies at the beginning don’t even know how. It’s the third time I dream of this person I don’t even know that I could see them going down a canal holding each others hands knowing you’re going to drown. I don’t know if all of this anxiety could be coming from that my dad is very ill with lung cancer. I don’t know maybe it could be but it feels so real like it’s something that hasn’t happened yet it is going to I don’t know if anybody has a dream something like that or feel something it’s similar to what I am experiencing or is it all just my very stressed out imagination.
I dreamt that my 4 year old grandson almost drowned.first he was playing in water deep enough for him but passed the logs it was deeper water he was walking to the logs I called his name telling him to come see what I have but he kept on I yelling somebody get my grandson stop him and Im swimming to him the whole time but it was taking forever and when he crossed over I didn’t see him anymore and I was there and I lady I didn’t know had him she was just holding him in the water and I started crying I could not stop crying I told the woman she was woman of the year or mom of the year and her daughter asked her why was I still crying and she told her because I almost lost my grandson.I got up went in my daughter’s room and told her about my dream.that was not good.
I had a dream last night that my 2 year old drown in a lake. I jumped in right after her and I couldn’t find her anywhere. I kept searching and searching the water but couldn’t find her. I was so physically upset when I woke up. I had similar dreams about my now 10 year old when she was around 3 but in that dream I could see her at the bottom lying there aND I kept swimming aND swimming but couldn’t get to her. I woke up crying and my lungs hurting as if I was holding my breath. I don’t understand why I gave these dreams. They scare me so bad that I’m overly paranoid when they are near water.
Dear Tara – Your dreams may reflect how you have felt as a 2 and 3 year old and how these experiences still affect you today; http://dreamhawk.com/health-and-healing/inner-baby-and-child/ and http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/your-inner-child/
The reason why you are having these drowning dreams again is because they offer you the opportunity to heal your inner child.
Although the dream process attempts to release difficult emotions, trauma and past experience, most people have inbuilt mechanisms which prevent this spontaneous healing activity. It is natural to pull our hand away from a hot surface because of the pain. We do this ‘without thinking’, unconsciously in fact. Similarly we unconsciously pull away from any painful or frightening emotions, even though it may be in our best interests to release or integrate them.
The non-release can lead to physical tension; a massive use of energy to contain such emotions; and development of physical illness. Resistance may also be in the form of not wanting to change; fear of the new; feeling threatened by fresh views of life or any questioning of the values one has long lived by. To free yourself from such resistances needs a positive motivation and the learning of new psychological and even physical skills, as presented in present forms of psychotherapy.
See http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/opening-to-life/
Anna 🙂
I had a dream where I went to the pool with some friends and it was very very dim and my friends jumped in the pool and for them it was like 6 ft deep and they were having a ton of fun so I dove in and everything was in slow motion for me, and the pool was like 12 feet for me. My hair wouldn’t get their hair was soaking wet and I wold go underwater to try and get it wet but it wouldn’t work. So my friends got out and I jumped back in because my hair wasn’t wet and I couldn’t get back up and my hair was in my face and a lot longer than normal. It was very heavy and holding me underwater as I was trying to get back up and then I saw a bright light and woke up. It was very strange.
Dear Gracie – Your dream starts with some lack of awareness about yourself and your relationship with your friends; “and it was very very dim”.
You then become aware that activities that are fun for your friends do not have the same effect on you.
You could explore if you are willing to do things with your friends just for the sake of feeling a part of their group and what arises (thoughts, feelings, images) when you enter the pool alone; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson
The second time you jump in it looks like you are exploring how to let your inner awareness grow.
Because the hair is in your face, it gives you the possibility to start looking within, instead of looking without at what your friends are doing.
Being under water in the pool is also a symbol for looking at what is happening deep within your mind and feelings and because of that becoming aware of what is going on in your inner world; “and then I saw a bright light”.
The bright light may also be a symbol for your Core Self.
What do you feel when you see the bright light?
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/the-archetype-of-the-self/ and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/self-observation/
Anna 🙂
I have had the same dream over and over about my son drowning. There is no other details in the dream but looking down at him and he is struggling in water. After having the same haunting dream multiple times I told my mom about the dream and she exclaimed OGM!! I have been having the same dream. We both was having the same dream about the same child. Please anyone elaborate on this.
Dear Priscilla – Unfortunately you do not share how old your son is. A recurring dream may reflect that there is a need to learn something. In the case of your dreams it might be about three generations that are meant to learn something, as you and your mother are having the same dream.
With this in mind I feel it is essential to first exclude the possibility that you have “labelled” your son (her grandson) as a so called “Identified patient”; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identified_patient
In the examples you can read that;
“In a family where the parents (or a parent) need to assert themselves as powerful figures and caretakers, often due to their own insecurities, they may designate one or more of their children as being inadequate, unconsciously assigning to the child the role of someone who cannot cope by themselves. (Reason why your son is drowning in your dream) For example, the child may exhibit some irrational problem that requires the constant care and attention of the parents.
In the book Dibs, an account of a child therapy, Virginia Axline considered that perhaps the parents, “quite unconsciously…chose to see Dibs as a mental defective rather than as an intensified personification of their own emotional and social inadequacy”.
So your dreams may reflect a wonderful opportunity that can lead to inner growth for all of you.
A way to explore how you and your mother deal with difficult feelings is by asking yourself honestly what you felt when you talked with her about your dream and when you wrote down your comment on this page.
Another way to explore your own part in this is to use http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson for your own dream figure in the dream and for the role your (inner) son has.
When you learn to deal with difficult emotions, you are more likely to pass this ability on to your (grand) son.
Anna 🙂
My 32 year old brother inlaw was killed in a motorcycle accident in Dec. Of this year. Shortly before he died I had woke in the middle of the night thinking of his daughter I called my sister because I could not shake the awful feeling. I told her I was really worried about my niece, and asked if they knew anyone with a motorcycle because I kept thinking of her and a motorcycle or maybe a man that rides one. My sister told me her husband purchased a motorcycle one day earlier, but assured me that my neice wouldn’t be riding. So I let it go. Last night I dreamed of swimming in a beautiful tropical water , with my deceased brother in law and some others I can’t remember now. It was so beautiful with deep stairs that led out to the bluest crystalline waters, my brother in law decided to swim out to a small sand bar and back when he began to struggle and drown .I swam to him as he succumbed to the water . I pulled him up the stairs and began breathing into his mouth. I remember I could hear him breathing but he was still life less he was dead.I havnt stopped thinking about this all day…. Maybe I am overwhelmed by guilt that I dreamed of the motorcycle but couldn’t save him and that’s why I am having these dreams.
Dear Megan – I have learned to understand that although we may become aware of certain future events that will happen “in time” we are not responsible for how the people we dream about will perceive the dream or act on it.
You did what was “asked”, because you shared your dream and expressed your concern.
The rest was not “in your hands”.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/esp-in-dreams/
Because of your drowning dream it is a wise decision to explore your feelings as guilt can have a paralysing influence on your being.
To explore your dream you could use http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson for both your dream figure and for the role your brother in law has in your dream.
You may also want to explore your beliefs about death and how these beliefs relate to the dream you have created; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dreams-about-dead-people/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dead-communicating-with/
I feel that if your dream also reflects a meeting with your brother in law – the death state and the dream state are one – that once again you did what was asked to help him deal with the difficult feelings he was about to drown in; “I pulled him up the stairs and began breathing into his mouth. I remember I could hear him breathing but he was still life less he was dead.”
Perhaps acceptance and patience is what is asked from you now?
Anna 🙂
I had a dream that we were at the high school and it was filling with water and I was trying to find my 9 year old daughter and I found her sunk to the bottom and I pulled her out and held her and after a few minutes she started coughing up water and breathing and bam I woke up.. it felt so real…